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Susan WelshUnited States Local time: 16:56Member (2008) Russian to English + ...

Mar 9, 2009

I searched the archive for this, but with 1,954 hits, I thought I'd take the easy way out and ask.

I am not accustomed to working with powerpoint files, but now I have to. My CAT tool does not support them. What's the best way to proceed? Work right in the "Outline" section, overwriting the source text with the target text? Or copy the text into a ordinary text file and run it through my CAT (so as to make use of glossaries and TMs which may be relevant), and then copy and paste the target text into the powerpoint "Outline" section? Or something else? This is only 1500 words, so it should not take me forever, I hope.

Thanks,Susan

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xxxMarc PLocal time: 22:56 German to English + ...

"How best to translate powerpoint files?"

Mar 9, 2009

I always do them in OmegaT. Convert to OO Impress, then remove the inevitable inappropriate line breaks.

I tidy up the formatting (e.g. reinserting line breaks) after conversion back to PPT.

OmegaT also presents the notes to you for translation.

Marc

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I use Werecat, a free tool in the form of a template for MS Word that extracts the text from PowerPoint to Word. I then translate it with Wordfast and once completed I use Werecat again to send the translation back to PowerPoint.

It's very easy and I have never had any problem; however, the segments must be translated "as is", i.e. you cannot shrink or expand the segments, otherwise you might have problems to send the translation back to PowerPoint. It is always a good idea to check the formatting of your translated PowerPoint file since there might be slight corrections to be done in case of heavy formatting, i.e. different font size or color within a segment that might have been omitted.

And another thing: if your PowerPoint contains embedded objects, either tables or graphs, you will have to edit and translate them directly in your PowerPoint file.

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And another thing: if your PowerPoint contains embedded objects, either tables or graphs, you will have to edit and translate them directly in your PowerPoint file.

if you use OmegaT When converting PPT files to ODP and back with OpenOffice.org, make sure to tick everything in Tools → Options → Load/Save → Microsoft Office.

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Susan WelshUnited States Local time: 16:56Member (2008) Russian to English + ...

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Oh, OmegaT!

Mar 9, 2009

Marc P wrote:

I always do them in OmegaT.Marc

Oh! Aren't you the guy who recently wrote on the OmegaT list, something to the effect of "Why would anyone ever want to translate PowerPoint in a CAT tool?" I didn't really know what you meant, but I always take my gurus' word for it.

Thanks to you and the others who replied,Susan

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xxxMarc PLocal time: 22:56 German to English + ...

Oh, OmegaT!

Mar 9, 2009

Susan Welsh wrote:

Oh! Aren't you the guy who recently wrote on the OmegaT list, something to the effect of "Why would anyone ever want to translate PowerPoint in a CAT tool?"

Not me. PDF, perhaps?

Marc

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1. Open the Powerpoint file.2. Open an empty (new) Word document.3. Select the next (first) segment (alt-down or the toolbar button).4. Wordfast will automatically fetch and replace the segments as you go.

The same thing also works for Excel.

T.

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I use Werecat, a free tool in the form of a template for MS Word that extracts the text from PowerPoint to Word. I then translate it with Wordfast and once completed I use Werecat again to send the translation back to PowerPoint.

The Wordfast/Werecat combination works well for me too.

I suppose that you could use Werecat to extract the text and translate with another CAT tool, not necessarily Wordfast? I have never tried, but since it's just a Word file - it should work with any tool, assuming that the tool can be set to ignore the placeholders and leave them intact.

Also - I saw a (short) demo for MemoQ on a Powerpoint file, it seems like another good choice.

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[ Work right in the "Outline" section, overwriting the source text with the target text?

My main criterion is always a client's wish: if the client demands the translation in the original format, then the easiest way is to translate in Power Point, overwriting the source text, as you suggested. The easiest and simplest method, more so because it's such a small projectYou will neither have the problem with word-count, as I can see you already know the number of words.

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In my experience TagEditor is very simple to use when translating Power Point files. It opens the lines line by line, and after you have translated the file it´s just to clean it up, and the translated file is done! Normally everything is in place, and you can send it to your customer.

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Marc P wrote:I always do them in OmegaT. Convert to OO Impress, then remove the inevitable inappropriate line breaks. I tidy up the formatting (e.g. reinserting line breaks) after conversion back to PPT.

I also use OmegaT (among others). Convert the PPT file to ODP format using OpenOffice.org. When doing ODP files in OmT, I select paragraph segmentation because it's easier to see where you're at. Also keep the ODP file open to see if what you see in ODP is what you see in OmT (I say this because PowerPoint files sometimes contain hidden stuff that is seen by OmT but not by the user).

It is anyway a good idea to keep the ODP file (the one in the /source/ folder) open all the time, so that you can easily make changes to the source text, save it, and then reload OmT to reflect the changes in OmT itself. This is useful when one or two slides use weird breaks that may work better if fixed before translation.

OmT can also translate PowerPoint 2007 files directly (without converting to ODP), although your mileage may vary based on how cleanly the client formatted the file in the first place. Keep in mind that although OpenOffice.org can open PPTX files, it can't save it, so if you want the ability to make changes to the source file during the translation process, you'd have to go the ODP route if you don't have Office 2007.

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Susan WelshUnited States Local time: 16:56Member (2008) Russian to English + ...

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More than one way to skin a CAT

Mar 11, 2009

Thanks to all who answered. When it turned out that my familiar OmegaT did the job just fine after all, I went with that. I didn't want to have to learn a new CAT tool in the midst of a sizable job (especially since mine worked). I was operating under a misconception, without having tried it on OmegaT.

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